school has a lot to answer for!

[Strawberry_lovemuffin]

School pretty much sucked hairy balls for me too.

All through primary school I was the "Fat kid" (I wasn't! I was only slightly chubby ) and boys especially delighted in rhyming my last name with 'fatty' and leaving me out of things, like sports teams and such.

Early high school I was the smart kid too, and because I initially went to a rough public high school I was mercilessly teased for getting 'A's' in English and spending time in the library and being picked for special projects and stuff. I remember hiding under the stairs at the back of the school for much of my lunchtimes reading a book.

Year 8-10 got a little better because I was moved to a Catholic high school which encouraged academic excellence, and there were plenty of cool kids who were smart too. "All rounders" I guess you could say. I wasn't one of them, I was just uncool and smart, but at least I didn't get teased for the smart part.

Year 10 was when *I* really started to rebel - got myself a tech-school boyfriend, wagged school, hung out with a group of "bad girls" and got in a fair bit of trouble. Changed my image somewhat, but I could never completely throw off the nerdy thing... not helped by still getting excellent grades and enjoying things like writing the school newspaper and acting in school productions

In the end, though, I grew not to care so much because by year 12 I had a pretty good group of friends and a great social life, theatre people (school and local independant productions) became my little "family away from home" and I started to realise that being 'cool' wasn't exactly all it was cracked up to be anyway. In fact, being yourself is probably the 'new cool' these days ...

I went back for my 10 year high school reunion recently (yeah! Old fart aren't i) and I was interested to see that all the 'cool' people I'd looked up to were floundering around in their lives, not having made much of themselves -still looking shallow and stuck up and bitter. It was amazing how many of them came up to me with compliments, and it was nice to be able to accept them with the grace and magnamity they never showed me

 

[anna!]

I loved some parts of school and despised other parts.

Because I went to the same school for basically my whole life (from prep to Year 11, before I moved to Melbourne), there were teachers that I had special affinities with.

These teachers were seriously god sends. I had an art teacher who encouraged me immensely with photography, and did things like loan me the school's cameras to take on holidays, and encourage me to spend extra time in the darkrooms. I had a computing teacher who put in referrals for extra courses and work experience programs for me. And I had an english teacher I adored, who pushed me to enter competitions and write for magazines and things. I can honestly say that if it hadn't been for these teachers (and others like them) that I would have lost most, if not all, of my drive to push myself and be successful.

But I also had a not-so-good smartarse streak and loved to get laughs out of people, which impacted poorly on my school work. I was bullied a fair bit between about year 6 and year 9, and it made me miserable, and a lot of the teachers didn't seem capable of dealing with that sort of thing - so instead of encouraging me (and other students who were going through the same sort of thing), they handed out detentions. And that just made it worse for everyone - the students got angry about being reprimanded when what they really needed was to be supported, and that just made the teachers more angry. Two of our teachers had nervous breakdowns and left - but I'm sure it was mostly because they just didn't understand what was going on.

When I got to Year 11, I started the International Baccalaureate program (http://www.ibo.org/ibo/index.cfm) - which is essentially an alternative to a Higher School Certificate, and most private schools offer it. It was wonderful. IB is what schools should all be like. We had to do a foreign language, had to do at least one science, had to do maths, etc. and that was really great for having a balanced education. We also had to take a class called Theory of Knowledge, which was basically philosophy, and write what was essentially a thesis, which we chose and researched independently. And we had to do 50 hours of each of Creativity (so, going to the theatre, taking an art class, etc.), Activity (playing sport, going on camps, etc.) and Service (community service stuff). God, it was so great. We were always encouraged, we learned loads of different things that the SACE students didn't - we got to study lots of foreign texts and see lots of plays, it was wonderful. And there were only about 30 of us doing IB, so it was like having a little family at school.

sigh. When I moved, I wasn't able to keep doing IB. It was the first time I'd felt really comfortable at school. I was planning for heads to roll, I was so mad. IB was the perfect way for me to learn - everything I did that year was positive: my marks were perfect, I was happy and inspired. I sang in three different school choirs and was going to go on a European tour with the choir the following year. I still feel bitter about the fact that I missed out on doing that.

What all of that ^ reflects though, is that my school was really great at offering lots of opportunities to students. There were about 8 overseas trips on offer each year, camps and outback trips (I went on one where we camel trekked for 3 days), research opportunities, great music programs, mentoring programs, just about every different sport you can think of, wonderful IT and library facilities.. by the time I was about 16, I realised I was living in some kind of beautiful learning hub. My school was sensational in that aspect, that impacted very positively on my life - I was able to have lots of different experiences at school that I might not have been able to at other schools.

My time at my next school was hell on earth, I don't think I enjoyed a single second of it outside of my English class, where I had a wonderful teacher who loved what I wrote. That was partly because the people at my school were assholes, partly because I couldn't continue IB and partly because half of my teachers were just terrible. I tried to immerse myself in the school's music program

And unfortunately, that was my exit into the "real world" - if I'd graduated the year before, when I was excited about learning and feeling really good about everything, I'm sure what happened in the years that followed would have been very different. I left on a downer, feeling badly about myself, with an abusive boyfriend who sucked the life out of me, and wanting to escape, instead of explore and develop. Almost everything about my old school, even the bad stuff, was a breeze compared to the shit that was my new school, and I still really hurt over it, and it still impacts on my life and insecurities. Ugh. Now I feel angry. I thought I had left all of the bullshit behind when I was about 14, and then I happened to find a school full of idiots who still acted like they were 12, but just couldn't seem to get over it because I was the new girl.

Meh. My old school was wonderful and holds wonderful memories and inspirations for me. My new school was abhorrent and I will speak badly of it for many years to come.

</longest rant ever>

 

[summadayzedgirl]

the last year of school was total hell (more so than the first five yrs of high school); i came out as a lesbian, the first gay kid in school, and i was treated pretty nice by all the girls; none of that "eww rug muncher! rrrrrrrun!" kinda playground bullshit, they asked me questions, most of them were pretty curious about lesbianism...

but the boys were all total assholes, i was harassed by the bleached blond football player type popular guy and for the remaining of the year i couldn't enter the huge locker bay cause i usually got hurled some form of verbal abuse, or had gum thrown at me if i dared entered the computer rooms... the f*cking drama queens...

i wagged alot of classes, and i spent my recess and lunchtime at a nearby park getting a nice tan and reading simone de beauvoir (the manderins is freakin huge!! im still trying to read it... )

so what did i learn?
+ummmm... i got over myself in a way, i use to treat being gay as such a huge huge thing, now im more relaxed about it, it's kinda like being right handed... not to say im not proud! im a fabulously right handed kid :D

+i know some people are total assholes... but they're kinda aware of it...

+everyone thinks of themselves as somewhat of a tormented soul, the fallen hero... i think everyone want to have potential... to have people not give up on them too soon...

i don't hate the kids who bullied me (in yr 12 or in yr 6; mary-ann - just why do kids get so cold and harsh, so fast?) i've gotten over it, finally! my basic conclusion is high school sucks!!!!! but the whole point is just surviving it, as stupid as it sounds...

 

[sydkiwi]

I hated school.

 

[wazza]

^^ this has some in depth discussion. Could you at least say why?

 

[smart-e]

School was the most hilarious/ degrading social situation I've ever encountered. The most popular girl in school now works full time at sportsgirl. The most unpopular girl will graduate next year as a doctor... funny isn't it.

The same thing happened at my high school. Its been 6 years since I left school and The "popular" girls all work at Dotti and the "geekiest" girl unpopular girl got a degree in nuclear physics and she got married to a hottie.

For me high school was fun I smoked alot of pot and had a really large group of friends. We definately wern't popular but we wern't unpopular either. We were a large group of "alternate" poeple who were social outcasts we were either poor, gay or drug addicts and we were ok with that.

 

[sydkiwi]

Ok, I wasnt popular and very shy.

Thus people thought I was a snob and because I was not good at standing up for myself I got picked on all the time. For everything. My hair, my looks, my teeth...

I've come to relise that people who call others ugly etc have no self respect for themselves and have to put others down to feel better about themselves.

 

[che_melbourne]

i was smart... i am smart.. school was a similar experience for me as it was to muzby. around year 10 i learned to be a smartass. this caused my year 12 english teacher to hate me with a passion. she thought i was incompetent and was unable to use the english language... funny how me and 2 of my mates were the only people in our year to get full marks for our SAC. my math methods teacher was good, he said i reminded him of himself, sitting up the back, leaning back on the chair, being a smartass or being asleep, but i was still able to do complex equations in my head whilst everyone else took 10 mins and a page of working out. specialist maths teacher hated me at the start, then started getting used to my sleeping and would only wake me if i was snoring, by the end of the year she realised how bored i was. every teacher says i dont deserve the mark i got at the end of the year, the specialist teacher was surprised that i got a decent mark and commented bout it to me, then i told her that i couldnt be stuffed with the second (non multiple choice) and only did like 1/4 of it. needless to say she freaked and didnt believe me, till another teacher confirmed to her that i left after 30 mins of the exam.

those 3 ears at the end got me some good memories and some good friends.... without them i would be lost right now

 

[groova]

well yeah, bloody oath school has a lot to answer for. I went to one of those very elite rich private schools, I'm very lucky in some respects in that i received excellent quality education but also unfortunate in others, being amongst so many snobby arrogant tossers. As you can imagine, this school was incredibly segregated in various aspects, your socio-economic class, your nationality, your attitude, your appearance etc. I found myself in the 'rebel' group, those always making life difficult for teachers and testing the limits, but my memories in this respect were always incredibly fun. Luckily enough i always tried to excel in my studies mainly because i knew how much money my parents were forking out, with no "dumbing down" of my intelligence, but sadly a fair few of my friends who are also very intelligent did "dumb-down" theirs, to receive very low enter scores and significant under-achievements, mainly due to them constantly trying to live out their bad-boy images. I find this has restricted them significantly, not able to enter their preferred course and generally just giving up on further education.

Another thing i've noticed, i really dislike my former secondary school, i don't care for any of their post-school activites and really don't enjoy seeing former school mates out and about....i guess i just hated the different social status given, and still remember how poorly people were treated who were deemed 'outsiders,' which ironically doesn't mean squat as you enter uni.......i find it quite amusing seeing the former "mis popular" wandering around uni all alone.

As comes with maturity, anyone i do see out and about, i treat nicely, even more so to those i may have treated poorly.

 

[gher]

I bumped into a guy from my brother's office and we talked about this. Ok, he did, mentally, I was cramming EMS and brewing ayahuasca.

He said something like school is too institutionalised. He said how he went from everyone trying really hard for grades to no one really caring at uni. I felt I was the opposite. I went to an all-boys school so there was less incentive to grow up. I was one of the guys who was picked on but there were others worse off then I was. Come year 12, not much had changed in the hierarchy, and I was still one of the off-beat kids. I think I hated the collective student body, even if each person was alright when you got them alone.

I bump into a few people from school here and there. Most of them go to Usyd and stay in one group. Sounds about right.

My UAI? 79.55. Everyone else's was in the 90's so let's just say I'm a success on my own terms. On the other hand, I got into ArtExpress, so at least I have bragging rights to something. :D

 

[fengtau]

I was popular in my school and I was also in the top 10 of my class so I am not sure I get what you mean.

 

[dancefifi]

^^ I think there's a difference between schools in Asian countries compared to Australia. From what I gather, there's a lot of teasin, how to fit in the 'in crowd' and all that. I'm not sure if I should generalise so I'll just say that this is what happened in my school, it might not be the same for other schools in Asia. There was the popular group of that year level, but it was more due to them having older siblings so they knew the older/'cooler' people. And somehow, the smart people didn't get teased for getting A's. Maybe its a different in culture? I don't know. I never really was in the 'in group' nor was I one of the 'smart' people. Well, I did envy those who are popular, mostly to do with the amount of people they knew but I guess what I meant is that the teasing and all that isn't as big...

 

[Pop Popavich]

I didn't particularly enjoy my time at High School, but this was largely due to my interactions with teachers. Whenever I remember not wanting to go, it was because "the teachers hated me!"

I was never a cool kid, and got over that, (although I found out later that most people actually thought pretty highly of me), but I was the Fat-Kid.
I went to a private all-boys school, so being thick-skinned and enough of a smart-arse got me through. The way teachers sorted out any disagreement though was that whoever was the biggest was cleary the bully and therefore at fault. This worked against me a fair bit since I was bigger than most, even though I am very passive and was not one to start fights.

My main problem was the teaching style, I didn't cope well with being forced to do the work set, especially when I was bored with it cos I "got it" while the class was still working through it. So when I got bored I would entertain myself and others by pushing the teachers buttons. And teachers thinking that they could break me, basically only made me push back harder.

I remember after a heated argument with my housemaster (who was very similar to me now I think back), he told me that I was only the 2nd person ever to have the guts to call him a Fat C*nt to his face...... the first was my brother, 11 years earlier 8)

In year 11 I left and went to a public College, the teaching style was more along the lines of if you don't wanna be here, then bugger off. Which meant that I did all the work at my own pace, then left and came back when everyone else had finished. Suited me a lot better and my grades reflected it, as did my attitude towards life in general.

My time at school I think taught me to be strong and independent. It's also taught me how to get away with doing the bare minimum. I'm now trying to learn how to balance this with actually working hard and not being so stand-offish as to push people away.

 

[Raving Loony]

my math methods teacher was good, he said i reminded him of himself, sitting up the back, leaning back on the chair, being a smartass or being asleep, but i was still able to do complex equations in my head whilst everyone else took 10 mins and a page of working out.

Same for me. My most memorable smartarse moment was in 2nd Year Uni Engineering mathematics class. I had been talking all class without writing down a single note on paper let alone paying attention and after over an hour the lecturer said 'righto mister, if you think you know so much. You finish off this problem on the whiteboard'. I took the whiteboard pen, wrote down the answer in without hesitation in two minutes and sat down with the rest of the class clapping.

 

[doofqueen]

I started kindy not knowing a word of english because we were imigrants from poland so i was ostresized from day one. I also was a poor kid in a rich school because my parents wanted me to have a catholic education.

I was the 'wog' at school and i had long blonde hair and blue eyes

I ate 'weird' food, my parents spoke funny and i had a hard last name.

School was hard and i was ashamed of being polish and just wanted to be an aussie and fit in.

I'm going to be a primary school teacher and teach children tolerance and to be proud of their uniquness

I just have to learn to spell now

 

[NickyJ]

I hated high school. I was also a shy kid, didn't have a lot of friends. But I didn't really want a lot of friends. I kinda put my social life on hold till I went to uni. Altho in year 12 I made a bit of an effort and started fitting in a bit.
I don't really care tho, kinda like up all night said, the popular people are now the total losers

 

[h@ndo]

I was one of the "Popular" kids in High school and also achieved decent grades (however not to my FULL potential) hence I loved school.

I had the odd occasion where I'd be picked on etc but I really just didn't give a toss and once they knew they wouldn't get a bite from me I never got any more abuse.

I was also friends with the majority of people at my school whether "Popular" or "Geeks" once I was in year 11 & 12 and got on well with years above and below me also. I had pretty good relationships with teachers also.

I Loved school

ps I was an absolute clown also.

 

[- l - u - c - e -]

One thing I don't understand about school was u had to try and be "cool" while there, then as soon as ur out, no gives a fuck about it anymore.
Sure, there are still the scums and stuck ups and all, but no really cares what people think of them, except the stuck ups of course. Why does this change?

 

[anna!]

You didn't have to try to be cool. And as for no one caring once you leave, I think you'd be surprised to find how many people didn't care while you were at school.

 

[beech]

I dont think school has a lot to answer for at all. People seem to blame school on the whole for the torment they may have recieved or for the fact that they got picked on. Its part of growing up. Its easy to look back and say it wasn't fair that I got picked on and why should it happen etc. But the reality is that school aged kids are not mature enough to treat everyone equally. I'm not saying its a good thing but it is how society works. There will always be different levels within any society. Its not just at school that kids tease each other, it occurs outside of school so I don't think it is 'school' that has something to answer for it is society as a whole for making it an acceptable practice for an hierachy to exist in a social context.
As for school teachers, in every profession there are the good and bad. The good teachers are those able to connect with the students and realise their potential and how to get the best out of them. The bad teachers are those who just can't connect with the student or who dont wish too. Ravers aren't the only ones who get jaded.
I'm not trying to defend the school environment, it is by no means perfect but I think it pretty closely mimicks the broader community and societal values of the time. Sure in the everyday community you might not see the school style teasing as blatantly as you would in a school but it still exists in peoples basic attitudes.
For the record I didn't particularly enjoy school because essentially I was lazy when it came to school work. Lucky for me I had a knack for english and got a perfect score for english in year 12, I was also handy at maths so got along fine in maths and science based subject. My talent for english set me up for other essay based subjects at school and in uni because I could bullshit my way through without knowing the content but being able to write a good coherent essay.
Basically I was one of the 'jocks' at school, i played plenty of sport and was good at it so i got by on that even when in years 9-11 it was kind of uncool and 'try hard' to play sport. I think I got away with it because I was really good at sport. Nobody ever really cared that I was smart, I think its because I was able to cruise through most subjects with minimal effort, I also had the role of class clown which was fun.

I haven't been to any school reunions but I know most of the guys are tradies which is good because its really what suited most of em even though i went to a catholic school where the push was to go to uni. I'm a few things mainly a school teacher. Kinda weird that english was my best subject but i'm a pe teacher now, i've also worked in health sector and on research projects for various studies and papers.


Beech out